‘It was pretty intimidating:’ Rick Springfield on making out with Meryl Streep

By Larry Getlen
Photo: Jay Gilbert
Here was a time when Rick Springfield really did not want to talk about himself.
As the “Jessie’s Girl” singer prepared to release his 2010 memoir, “Late, Late at Night,” he became so nervous about the book that he tried to shut it down.
“I finished writing it, and about six weeks before release, I called the publisher and said I don’t want this released, because I suddenly realized that people would be reading it,” says Springfield. “They talked me off the ledge.”
Since then, Springfield has concocted a concert format in which he plays songs and tells stories that span his 65 years. He was scheduled to perform at the Concert Hall at New York Society for Ethical Culture on Saturday; “Stripped Down” — a CD/DVD version of the show — hits stores Feb. 24.
“The song I wrote when I was 15, ‘Painted Girl,’ I pulled out of the closet for a laugh,” says Springfield. “I tried to make it sound like The Beatles, but it didn’t work, because I was a 15-year-old kid. Now I play it as it sounded in my head, very Beatles-like, and it’s kind of cool.”
In his 30s, Springfield joined the soap opera “General Hospital,” but it’s now, at an age when most are

easing into retirement, that he’s really getting some Hollywood cred.
In the film “Ricki and the Flash,” he plays the love interest of none other than Meryl Streep. And on Season 2 of the HBO hit “True Detective,” Springfield has a top-secret role. Both are due this summer.
In “Ricki,” Streep stars as an aging rock star looking to make amends to the people left in her wake over the years. Springfield was cast for a touch of authenticity. “I was on the road, and I got a call saying they were looking for an actor who can play guitar for real,” he recalls.
Streep, meanwhile, only picked up a guitar two months before filming. Still, Springfield insists, “I’ve seen photos from the set and she looks more comfortable with a guitar on her than I do! It’s pretty amazing. I saw how brave she was — and she didn’t need to be because she’s who she is, but she was experimenting. She learned it all — not just playing the guitar, but playing and singing [at the same time].”
He admits that co-starring — and making out — with Streep had its nervewracking moments.
“It was pretty intimidating at first, but she was incredibly welcoming,” he says. “We’re playing boyfriend and girlfriend, and she scanned that from the get-go. She was very affectionate, welcoming and warm. [But] it was hard for me, when doing a scene with her, not to stop myself and go, ‘Wow.’ ”
As for “True Detective,” he can only say that he shot one episode of the show so far and might be shooting more in March, and that this is a “very different” role than people are used to seeing him in.
“[HBO] wouldn’t even acknowledge that I was in the cast, initially,” Springfield says. “They have a CIA clamp on. Someone offered one of the makeup people like 10 grand to spill the beans on the new season!”
Original Article http://nypost.com/2015/02/14/it-was-pretty-intimidating-rick-springfield-on-making-out-with-meryl-streep/